My Daughter Saved the World!

Watch this video to see how — and read my companion piece on NRDC’s This Green Life, where I make the connection between saving city pigeons and saving wild wolves, who are now facing government sponsored hunts in the west. Save the wolves and save a world, too.

By the way, the group where Rita, the wildlife rehabilitator my daughter speaks about, volunteers to help injured birds (not just pigeons, by any means) is the Wild Bird Fund. Check them out and if you’re so moved, please contribute a little something. They do great work.

We at Project PigeonWatch and Celebrate Urban Birds enjoyed the story. Our projects encourage people to watch birds, record their observations, and send results to scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Thoughtful observation is good for the observer, good for the observed (the birds!) and good for scientific and artistic efforts.

Pigeons are very special creatures. When I was a child, I had a pigeon loft. My best bird was Sparky, who was a prize-winning Stettin Tumbler. Tumblers are a toy European breed of pigeon that, for the sheer joy of it, do summersaults in the air.

My birds were all free flying, which meant that they were free to fly wherever and whenever they wanted during the day, but came into the loft to roost and nest at night, all of their own volition. Sparky was my favorite bird. He was intelligent, he always won big prizes at pigeon shows, and he was the king (dominant bird) of the loft.

One day I had to move the loft. All the other birds were easily caught and transferred, but Sparky was too quick and clever to be caught. I managed to catch his wife, Sonja, and I was worried that a cat or an owl would kill Sparky because he was sleeping outside at night.

Pigeons mate for life, and are usually very loyal to their mates. I had tried everything to catch Sparky, but he was just too clever and fast to catch. In desperation, I took Sonja and held her feet between my fingers. Upon seeing her, Sparky flew down off the roof (doing three summersaults in the process), and started strutting and cooing to impress his wife. Meanwhile, Sonja was flailing her wings, trying rather desperately to get me to release her. Sparky paused, and then he actually noticed she was trapped. He immediately walked over, grabbed her wing in his beak, and tried to pull her free! This was the only way I was able to grab him, and I transferred him to the new loft with no other problems.

This is a true story. Believe it or not, this event has affected my life in very profound ways. I have NO DOUBT that animals feel love and pain and loss and many emotions that humans would selfishly like to reserve for themselves alone. Recent scientific studies (with Koko the lowland gorilla and Alex the African Grey Parrot, to name a few) are providing more and more support for this.

Logic tells me that killing wolves, particularly in the way they are doing it, is just plain evil.

But I don’t need convincing. I want to see humans change the way they relate to ALL animals and to the environment. We are so lucky to have this incredible natural world around us; I just wish more humans would realize this! I congratulate your daughter for doing what she thought was right, and I congratulate you for supporting her. Our children will soon be the ones who must do the hard work to change the world.

I just hope they know the true nature of the greed that they are up against. But it is love that will win the day.

I think the story about pidge is touching. Saving animals is great too. Big things like saving a species also begins with little steps, like you said.

However, common pidgeons/rock doves are not native to North America. They may be an exception, but in general, non-native species do not enhance bio-diversity, but threaten it. I think this is important to keep in mind when sending a message to save lives. It may be counter-productive from a big-picture standpoint to use so much time & many resources to save the life of a non-native species, which may threaten the health of native species.

I have always felt that all life is precious and it is rare to hear of somebody caring enough for a common species. To me no species is ever common because each life is special and every creature feels pain and suffering. To dismiss a helpless injured bird as a disposable creature is cruel and inhumane. Your daughter is an angel.

ABOUT

A green living columnist for environmental organizations in her spare time, Sheryl Eisenberg wrote This Green Life for NRDC from 2004-2014 and previously wrote Greentips for the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her "real" life, she designs websites with her firm Mixit Creative for environmental groups and other non-profits and small businesses.